


Scandalous Liaisons

by Warped_Nacelle



Category: Scandal (TV), Star Wars
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 15:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6244969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warped_Nacelle/pseuds/Warped_Nacelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Mash-Up of Star Wars and Scandal. This story takes place during the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, right after Anakin Skywalker has killed the Jedi children at the Temple. </p><p>O-Li Viapope and Associates have been asked to deal with the PR nightmare on Coruscant following Anakin's murder of the Jedi children and Quai-nai, having just been hired as a new associate, has to question her own morality and ideals as she is asked to run a PR campaign to paint Anakin and Palpatine in a positive light while making the Jedi look like a cult bent on galactic domination.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scandalous Liaisons

"Thanks for this, but I'm not really interested in dating anyone right now"

"Oh, this isn't a date. This is an interview."

"What-.... I... I didn't apply for a job."

"But you're going to want this one."

"Seriously? Who interviews someone at a cantina?"

"Trust me. You will be happy I am interviewing you."

"Thanks, but I think I will pass."

"You're not going to pass on this job."

"Why, what's the job?"

"What you really want to ask is 'who'!"

"Okay, this is sounding a lot more like a date, or at least a job that I'm really not interested in. Anything that requires me to ask 'who's the job' is really not for me. Also, I know I just passed the bar exam and I already have a few legal aid jobs lined up, so if this is a job for a law firm-"

"Oh, this isn't a job offer for a law firm."

"Then what do you want a lawyer for?"

"I told you that you would want to ask 'who?'"

"Who-"

"O-Li Viapope. Do you recognize the name?"

"You.... You can't mean the O-Li Viapope that ran the Palpatine campaign..."

"That's the one."

"So... you want a lawyer because...?"

"Oh, you won't be working for us as a lawyer. You'll be a Mandalorian of solving problems like the rest of us."

"You want me to wear a helmet and a jet pack...?"

"No, we want you to solve problems like a Mandalorian. Really destroy them."

"So I'm O-Li's Mandalorian..."

"We all are."

"Who are you?"

"I told you, I'm a Mandalorian for O-Li Viapope and Associates."

"I'm going to have to think this over..."

"No you're not."

"What do you-"

"See you tomorrow morning. You know you'll be accepting the job. I know you'll be accepting the job. We don't need to play games. Oh, by the way Quaii Nai, my name's Horizon.

Horizon walked out of the room, leaving me staring at my drink. The music droned on and the words all seemed to flow together. 

I have idolized her for so long. This could be an amazing opportunity. O-Li Viapope was a powerhouse. Jedi may be able to move things with their minds, but when O-Li speaks, while worlds move.

Mandalorian... I kind of like that.

 

***

The office was fairy plush, high up in Coruscant's skyline. I felt dwarfed by the majesty of the place when I just walked into it. Everything was moving and bustling and I felt like I was just a rock in a river, not really blocking the flow, but sort of irritatingly in the way. All I knew was that I was out of place.

"Hi, my name is-"

"-no time. Find something to do and keep out of my way"

I kept wandering, looking over people's shoulders, smiling at people in an expectant "hey, I'm new. Can you help me figure out what I should be doing" sort of way. No one smiled back. Most people sort of looked over my shoulder... on to their next task.

A glimpse of Nautolan head-tresses gave me a moment of comfort - Horizon would be able to help me find my place here and maybe explain what the hell I am supposed to be doing.

"Horizon. Thank you for hiring me... but what should I be doing?"

He flicked his huge black eyes up toward the entrance, motioning with his head.

I turned to see O-Li Viapope stride into the room, creating a wake with her movement that I could feel in my montrals ... and it felt like power. I don't know if I ever realized that power had a feel to it before now, but this was definitely the only way to characterize that feeling.

She was human. Not especially tall or physically strong, but she had a weight of presence that even non-togruta could feel. I have always felt that humans lack the beauty of togruta, with our pointed montrals on top of our heads and head tails, but somehow the silky blackness of O-Li's hair captured something ethereal. Her strands of hair may not be capable of sensing anything about her environment, but it did serve as a veil for her to highlight her face. Her skin could have been boring, being uniformly walnut coloured but somehow my own orange, white, and black stripes paled in comparison. I stared with my mouth open.

O-Li was immediately into action, the epicentre of her little band of Mandelorian fixers. 

"People, we have a new job to do. I just came back from a meeting with the chancellor's chief of staff and we have a problem to solve." She swiped her hand across the large bay window of the main office, turning it into a screen. Folders immediately began opening and speeding across the screen - images, text files, and maps.

"Mandalorians" Horizon whispered in my ear before walking up to the screen.

"We knew something like this was going to happen. I have been telling the chancellor that his Jedi was too unstable and was going to be a problem-"

"-Not to mention that having a Jedi associated with the chancellor was already mixing too many different areas of government already... really incompatible areas of government." Horizon cut O-Li off.

"Funny you should mention that" O-Li said as she began pulling up images on the screen. 

Images of severed people in Jedi robes filled the screen. Their bodies were dismembered, but all of the wounds were cauterized. 

"Those aren't actual.... Jedi, are they?" I asked, in horror.

"Oh, it gets better" She said, pulling out more images. Instead of adult Jedi, the screen was not filled with images of children, faces frozen in horror.

"I don't mean to interrupt, and I know I'm knew here, but... Don't those cuts... Don't they... Well, they look like Lightsaber cuts. They are cauterized and precise.... Who could...?"

Instead of answering, O-Li began pulling more images from the periphery of the screen, showing the Emperor's Jedi glaring down at the dead bodies. Animated images began showing Anakin slicing at the other Jedi.

"These images have already been spreading. I am worried, in particular, about the effect that the images of the children will have on the current position the senate has taken about Jedi."

"You mean, that stuff about the Jedi turning against the Republic? But that can't be-" I realized my own naievity as soon as I said it. Of course O-Li's team was probably behind the current image of the Jedi. The painting of Palpatine as a victim. The close up images of his ravaged face. The images of the Jedi Mace Windu attacking him. It all had the signature stamp of O-Li Viapope and Associates' style. 

"Skywalker killing adult Jedi is one thing, but the killing of children...? All of this just makes him look cruel and the Jedi innocent. This... this isn't a battle scene. This is a genocide." Horizon interjected, "How are we going to spin THIS?"

"Alright, people, how do we fix this?" O-Li asked a question, but it felt more like an order, a rallying of the troops.

The room became a flurry of motion and everyone rushed off to their individual terminals. I stood in the middle of all of it, staring at the wide eyes of the Jedi child at the centre of the screen. I couldn't understand how they could all run off and work on "fixing" this situation when there was so much horror looking over them. I could see Skywalker hacking away with his blade in the corner of my eye, but I couldn't look at him. Something about his rage felt like a black hole, tugging me toward it, compelling. Instead I stared into those innocent young Padawan eyes and imagined how my new employers were going to make these kids into monsters for the public to rally against. 

 

***

I could feel everyone gather behind me while I continued to stare at the screen. I wasn't sure how much time had passed. I just kept replaying everything that had happened in my mind.

O-Li stood in the middle of the room "Okay, people, what have we got?"

I could hear the voices behind me offering up suggestions.

"Okay, the Sand People were easy to cover up. They were barely sentient and... well, to be honest, most people didn't pay much attention... some people may have even celebrated their deaths. Tatooine is in the middle of nowhere anyway and no one who really matters lives out there. But this is different. This is on Coruscant, at the heart of the Republic. And people don't view the Jedi as barely sentient pests. Plus, the fire of the Jedi temple was so high that most of Coruscant would have seen it. There are already videos all over the network and there are a lot of images showing the Chancellor's pet Jedi entering the temple with a platoon of clones. This isn't going to be erased and we can't make it go away."

"Even if we tried to scrub the Net, too many people have already seen the images and are talking about this."

"Okay, part of the issue we are coping with is that the galaxy has been viewing the Jedi as protectors for centuries." Horizon's tentacles twitched as he spoke, processing his own ideas but also smelling out the pheromones in the room to see how his ideas were coming across, "So, how do we undo protection? We need to get the public questioning what they are being protected from. Who needs this kind of protection? Who asked for it? How are the Jedi controlling us?"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and as I turned around O-Li stared into my eyes, "Hey new girl, what do you think?"

"We go with Horizon's idea of continuing to demonize the Jedi. Not only do we get the public to question the police powers of the Jedi, we focus on their actual powers, on the Force. They can see through us, get into our minds. This can't be something that only I am creeped out by...."

"So we go with the Jedi as a threat to privacy, as a group who exerts their surveillance on the public?" O-Li opened the idea to the group.

"And we highlight the fact that this is a special interest group. They have all of this power, and have appointed themselves our guardians, but who asked them?" I replied, horrified at how easy it seemed to be to engage in political spin. I was still looking into that child's eyes on the screen while I did my job and suggested how we can make sure that the child's killer never sees justice.

"How do we deal with the issue of the children?"

I could tell that O-Li read that issue in my eyes as I stared at the Padawan on the screen. I knew this was a test, to see how much I could set aside my personal feelings to do the job.

"We paint them with the same brush - future threats to our privacy. No one wants someone around who can peak into our thoughts and find every dark little secret there.... And we portray them as irredeemable members of a cult, indoctrinated from birth into this lifestyle and unable to resist peaking into our thoughts and trying to police them."

"How do we manage Skywalker and his image?"

"He's not exactly the poster child for sanity and there are a lot of close-ups on his rage-filled expression." Horizon interjected.

"We shift the message. Portray him as out for justice instead of for blood." An metallic orange droid suggested, "We do an op ed piece on him, letting him talk about Jedi conspiracies. He could be the insider voice we need to tell us about the Jedi secrets."

"We still have to deal with the fact that the Jedi are war heroes." Horizon suggested, "They fought for the Republic. News stations have been blasting out images of them fighting the trade federation for months now."

"Then we portray them as opportunists." I suggested, looking away from the screen and at everyone in the room. "We point out that Dooku was one of them and we suggest that the whole involvement in the military was a power grab. The Jedi haven't involved themselves in war before this, well, not recently at least, so we lead the public to ask what has changed. Why did they suddenly change from priest-police to warriors? We ask the public what was in it for the Jedi."

"Okay, it looks like we've got the start of a plan. You and you, work on the privacy issue. Drum up some citizens talking about how they feel their thoughts are violated. You know the kind of places to go - look for those people who would have something to hide from the Jedi. You and you, work on the 'why turn into warriors' question. Quaii Nai, you're with me. We're going to talk to the Chancellor and Skywalker. Let's get to it, people."

*****

The shuttle seemed cold in its extravagance. I felt as though I was leagues away from O-Li, as though she was in a different world. Of course, she seemed to be in a different world partially because of her keen focus. She flipped through documents, eyes never leaving her screen as she prepped for her meeting. Her hair fell down around her face like a hood, partially obscuring her and adding to the sense of secrecy and mystery around her. 

"Why am I here?" I whispered.

She looked up distractedly "What?"

"What am I doing here?"

Her attention snapped to sharp focus "You want to know why I hired you... A better question might be why do you think I hired you?"

"I- I don't know..." I paused, hoping she would fill in the details, but I realized that this was a challenge, that she wanted me to say something and expected that I would have a good answer, "I know I'm a good lawyer, but I haven't really had a chance to prove myself yet, I -"

"What do you notice about all of the people that work for me?"

I felt flustered "They - well, they're professional.... They're quick to think through a situation.... They seem to have a lot of insight about the way people think..."

"But what do YOU notice about them?"

"I don't. I..."

"What do you think makes them so good at reading people? What gives them that insight into the way people think that you noticed? What do they have in common beyond their job?"

"Well, people who read people well... They generally have had to learn that skill.... They... They have probably HAD to learn to read people as a survival mechanism. They... I don't know."

"What have you learned about what I do - what my PEOPLE do?"

"You seem to... I don't know exactly, but you seem to help people, help them get out of trouble. Help them when they have gotten themselves into situations -- Wait! Am I here because you are trying to help me? Am I here because you think I'm damaged in some way and need you to FIX me like you fix your clients' messes?!"

"I don't think you're broken, and I DON'T do charity. You are here because I think you can help me and if I can help you too, that's a bonus. You've seen the people that work for me. You know that they all have their baggage, but they are also incredible at their job, like you said. They can read people and situations well. They respond to those situations because their lives have made them NEED to respond to situations quickly, effectively, and insightfully. The question is... do YOU think that you're a mess? Do you think that you need to be fixed?"

I sat back hard against the plush seat of the shuttle. I really wasn't sure how to respond. I really did view myself as a mess. I really did think I needed to be fixed. But it was hard to hear the question from someone else. I knew she wasn't suggesting that I DID need to be fixed. Instead she seemed to suggest that the mess that was my life was somehow a skill. She was right - I really did think that experience trouble, real trouble, prepared people to better read situations. When you spend your life experiencing the worst, you start to get a knack for seeing when it is approaching. It feels like some sort of Jedi trick - pretending to see the future - but it isn't. You just sort of learn how to read all of those things that people who have led normal lives dismiss, all of those little details that they don't notice because they don't have to. When you haven't experienced real violence from people, real threats, you don't notice those subtle little tells in their personality, the little face movements and impatient twitches that let you know that something bad is on its way. 

I could tell that O-Li had already read this on my face. I could tell that we had something in common because she had the same skill to read people. She was working just as much at fixing herself as she was fixing her clients and fixing workers - fixing me.

"I guess I sort of DO need some fixing. I think all of us do. Not just all of the people we are working with, but PEOPLE. It is part of the nature of sentient beings that we all could benefit from some fixing."

"That's what we do here. That's what YOU are doing here. You are fixing things and maybe along the way, we can fix ourselves. Horizon calls us the "white helmets" because for him we are heroes rushing in to fix things. I don't know that we need to call ourselves "white hats" because we live in a world that is not black and white. It's grey as plasteel. But I have to believe that we make things better for people."

"And how does this fit in for Palpatine and Skywalker? Are we white helmets when we work to cover over the impact of Skywaker murdering Jedi children? Is Palpatine a helmets hat for standing by someone like Skywalker?"

O-li stood up at this point, waking along the long shuttle to sit beside me. Part of me wasn't sure if she was coming closer because she wanted to hide something from the shuttle pilot or because she wanted to emphasize how important the things she was about to say were. 

"I know the chancellor is a good man. He has a sense of vision for the Galaxy, a desire to end these meaningless little conflicts that cause innocent people to lose their lives just because of ideological differences and political allegiances. I know that he is interested in creating a galaxy that is free from conflict where people don't lose their lives because they are caught between two different political powers. We live in chaotic times and I really think he can bring a sense of order to our galaxy, a sense of justice."

She lay her hand on top of mine. I know that she probably just intended to emphasize what she was saying, but it felt intimate. I looked down at her hand, feeling the intimacy of our closeness, an intimacy she probably didn't feel and didn't intend for me to feel, but I felt the distance between us collapse nonetheless. I raised my eyes to look into hers. There was an intensity there, as though she was looking through my eyes directly into my thoughts. I could feel my breath catch, feel my lips parting, wanting to taste the air between us. 

I tried to move my gaze away from her but she moved her head to keep her eyes on mine, locking her eyes on my eyes. Her lips parted "Quaii Nai... You are a white helmet. Just like him. Just like me." Her lips broke into a wide smile "You are a white helmet, a fixer, a frigging Mandalorian warrior of fixing. I know you don't feel at home yet in my organization, but you are going to make a difference. WE are going to make a difference. We are going to fix things."

I couldn't help but think that in the breath between one moment and the next I went from possible lover to soldier. Her words went from intimate confidant to warrior preparing her troop. I somehow felt both elated and let down at the same time. 

***

O-Li's long dress hissed along the floor as she strode between the chancellor's guard and dropped lithely into a bow in front of him, and not just a half body bow. She dropped to one knee in front of him with her hand extended toward him. For anyone else, this would be a gesture of supplication and subservience, but somehow the gesture seemed more intimate than a kiss on the cheek or a hug. Somehow it was a gesture that whispered of shared secrets, hidden things, and an intimacy that I couldn't really articulate.

I had a hard time passing by the chancellor's guard. I knew that they had to be there after all of the attempts on the chancellor's life, but there seemed to be something ominous about passing by guards to get to the chancellor and there was something about these particular guards that felt different than others. I don't know how to articulate it, but they didn't FEEL like the typical guards - they didn't feel like clones. And part of that was because I could feel them stare at me through their masks. I could feel the weight of their gaze through their visors and it felt heavy, cold, and electric at the same time. I tried to keep my head tales from twitching in response, feeling out the environment because I knew that this heavy, electric, cold sensation wasn't something that I could capture with my senses but rather felt like the weight of dread. I casually tried to hide the twitching of my head tales by adjusting them, knowing that they were a dead giveaway of my nervousness. 

I couldn't look at the guards or Palpatine. Instead I stared at O-Li's back and hurried toward her.

Palpatine gently touched her hand and she rose to her feet, looking him in the eyes. 

"Chancellor, I am sorry that we have to meet under these circumstances, but it is always a pleasure to see you."

Palpatine looked toward me, his scarred face breaking into a smile as he saw me, "and who is this?"

I became flustered as he looked at me, unsure what I should be doing. Should I bow? I knew I had paused too long, but I bowed quickly from the waist. "I -I'm Quaii Nai. I - just stated working for Ms. Viapope. I - it's an honour to meet you chancellor."

His smile widened. I'm not sure if it felt like a mask he was wearing because of his facial scars... and my reaction of discrimination - or if there was something hidden behind the warmth of that smile. Something cold, calculating. I couldn't believe how judgemental I was being - this poor man was attached and his face permanently scarred by the attempt on his life and here I was, judging him by his appearance. 

"It is an honour to meet you, too, Quaii Nai. You must be an amazing person to be hired by Ms. Viapope. I know from experience that she only hires the best. Speaking of which, we are going to really need your best for this situation. We did what we needed to do to deal with the Jedi threat, but I am worried about the way the population will see this event. They-" he traced his hand along the scars of his face, "They don't see the Jedi the way I have come to see them. They don't know what they are capable of... the damage they..."

I couldn't help but see this as a performance for my benefit, Palpatine playing the victim... But this is ridiculous. I am falling into that trap of victim-blaming, of seeing him as faking it for me... 

"We need to show them that" I blurted out. 

O-Li and the chancellor instantly turned their eyes toward me. I felt like I had intruded on them, but in typical Quaii Nai fashion, I continued to vomit out a flow of anxious words to try to make my comment not as out of the ordinary... It always failed.

"We need to - to show them, well, YOU chancellor. I know this sounds bad and like we are using your injury, exploiting the - the horrible thing they did. But, we need to show the public your face, show them what the Jedi CAN do, what they DID do. If they - if they see you, they will see the horror of the Jedi.... Oh god, I didn't mean it like that... to make it seem like I was calling your scars horror, I-"

O-Li jumped in to save me from myself, "She has a point. We have been using images of scarred soldiers from the battlefront to show the public the real impact of war, to let them see that this could be them if not for the Republic's armies. They are conditioned to see scars as indicators of heroism and markers of a firm division between hero and enemy. I'm sorry, Chancellor, because I know that it sounds like we are exploiting your injury, but... we do need to show them your scars, plaster all of the news outlets with your face as the face of a hero who has survived an attack by enemies within the Republic, by Jedi, who claimed to be helping us but have only been looking out for their own interests.... We need you to talk about everything. We need you to reassure the public that you are their hero and that you were scarred trying to keep them safe from a threat within. We need to show them that Skywalker was carrying out a necessary police action."

I felt confident enough to talk again. O-Li had that ability to calm me just by suggesting that I had a point "Given the strength of the Jedi, Skywalker was forced to kill them. There isn't an option of capture for a group of people so powerful, a group of people that can literally change the minds of the guards with a wave of their hand."

****

"I know that many of you may have reacted with horror at the sight of the police action carried out against the Jedi temple." Somehow Palpatine's scars looked deeper on the huge screens on the side of the senate building and his scars made his eyes look even more sorrowful, "We all had viewed them as friends of the Republic for so long. I, myself, had encouraged their involvement in the conflict against the Trade Federation... but I have come to realize my failing in this. As I revealed to you before, the Jedi had turned against the Republic. Their belief in their own power, in their own right to govern our morality, had made them feel justified in asserting that power over your elected officials. They wanted to overturn your democratic rights and install themselves as the new government, one based on their ideals and beliefs about how we should live our lives. They were even willing to do this to me."

Palpatine paused, letting the audience really look at him, to see his scars. We had prepped for this moment, to help him to transform himself from person who was victimized to a symbol of a galaxy that had been victimized.

"I have to admit some trepidation in coming forward to you like this and showing you my face and what the Jedi have done to us. I know that many of you have suffered far worse in the conflict with the Trade Federation - have lost family members in the battle zones, have suffered losses that I can't calculate. But, like you, I don't consider myself a victim of an enemy even though the Jedi have proven themselves to be an enemy to our free democratic rights. Instead I see my scars as a wake-up-call, a call to action, and a reminder that we are a galaxy that needs change, that has been torn apart by the chaotic battles that have come from enemies within the Republic who want to grab power for themselves, whether they are industrialists or Jedi.

"I ordered the police action against the Jedi because they were a danger to us, and I regret that I had to order the use of lethal force, but, as they Jedi have often revealed to us, they are not like normal people. They have abilities that could overwhelm our troops. Imprisoning them would be only temporary because they have the ability to deceive our minds. They can use the Force to read the minds of our guards and bend their will so that the guards will do their bidding. This isn't something that we can allow. The Jedi have admitted that they can invade our privacy by reading our minds. They have admitted their goal to control or actions. They are a danger to public well-being. The Jedi believe that emotion is a danger to us, so they seek to eliminate it in themselves. They believe that romantic interests and intimacy are a danger. How long would it take them to wait before they begin to view all of us as a threat - before they believe that our attachment to our husbands, our wives, our children make us a threat to the so-called Light Side of the Force. They take children from their families when they are toddlers to try to keep them away from the rest of society, to indoctrinate them in their practices and beliefs. I know that there are many families that have already lost their children to the Jedi and their belief that families are a threat - that LOVE is a threat.

"There is a word for people who don't feel emotions, who lack the ability to connect with people. We use the term "sociopathic" to describe these behaviours. And perhaps that is why the Jedi were able to so easily mobilize against your chosen representatives, because their order rejects emotion and attachments. There have been a lot of comments about my representative among the Jedi, Anakin Skywalker. The media has been portraying him as a dangerous person, but he was someone who reacted against the Jedi desire to separate people from their emotions. He made the great mistake of falling in love, something the Jedi couldn't tolerate. He was with the troops in the police action against the Jedi temple not out of some desire for revenge, but because of his intimate knowledge of the Jedi and the weapons they could wield against our troops. He was involved in the police action against the Jedi because he was aware of their plot to assassinate myself and to take over control of the Republic and he knew that he had the ability to resolve the threat that they posed to our free will and right to democratic choice over our governance."

Palpatine smiled "Anakin Skywalker was a friend who protected me from Jedi assassination and I trust him to protect you from the Jedi threat as well. He battled against those already indoctrinated into their order, those who had already been trained to despise attachment and fear that the public would take actions out of their own needs instead of the mystical beliefs of the Jedi about a Force divided arbitrarily into Light and Dark in order to view us as a threat to ourselves, in order to justify their control over us out of what they believe is our "best interests", where they become arbiters of what is "best" for us. This is a changing galaxy and it is one that has been threatening to our Republic for too long. I promise to do everything in my power to keep you safe from ideological wars, from people who would exert power over others and use political ploys and plots to assume power over our society. I promise to do everything in my power to protect your rights - OUR rights."

Palpatine had that same cadence to his voice as O-Li, that persuasive quality that makes every listener feel as if he is speaking directly to them. He had that ability to make people feel as though they were better, stronger, and that they were entitled to the right to make their own decisions. I and the rest of the team wrote Palpatine's speech, carefully included every nuance of it for a certain effect, but listening to it, I felt as though he was speaking from his heart and speaking directly to me... like he was speaking to each of us. 

Horizon touched my hand, "I don't know about you... but I think this incident that we were worried was a threat to the Chancellor may have actually rallied more public support to his cause. I actually found myself hating the Jedi, those self-righteous bastards who spy on us and try to control us."

"I don't know what it is about the Chancellor, but he seems to just inspire a sense of confidence - like he is rallying us against enemies that want to take everything from us." I replied, eyes still locked on the now blank screen. 

"Well people, I'm going to declare this a win." O-Li said. "So, what did you think of your first day on the job Quaii Nai?" 

"I feel - I think I feel good about it. I feel -" I looked over at Horizon "-like a Mandalorian, like a white helmet, like one of the good guys."

 

***

I couldn't seem to bring down the high I was experiencing over our first win. It was like I had just dosed myself with Spice. Every sense was still on alert, tingling. 

"Is anyone else feeling this huge - I don't know - this huge high? I know that I must be tired from all of this, but I feel like I could party all night.... Does anyone want to? You know, to party?"

Horizon chuckled "You'll get used to it." He winked at me. 

I looked around the room at this eclectic group. I had started to understand a bit about some of the self-fixing we were all doing for each other. I could see that for all of Horizon's bluster, he was using expensive suits and an air of casual playfulness to cover up insecurities and uncertainties. He wore his suit as a type of armour over a self that had experienced loss, poverty. His playfulness was as much about proving to himself that he could do anything as it was about escaping from whatever haunted him from his past whenever he slowed down enough for it to catch up with him.

I had finally gotten a chance to meet some of the other associates after Palpatine's speech and I felt like I had a sense of the droid AB-428. In fact, I could quickly tell that AB-428 was far too accustomed to being thought of as "the droid". Most biological sentiments treat droids as a confusing bit of non-life, as both more than their nav computer for being able to talk and interact with them and yet somehow less than their nav computer because they were always needing to justify how biological life was so much more superior than droid artificial life. Droids like AB-428 were far too much like sentient life for too many people and that made them feel the need to constantly remind droids that they are lesser beings. AB-428 struck me as a droid running from a master that had something to prove and I could see that she wore her mechanical body as an emotional shield, hiding her feelings under the guise of droid logic.

FN-221 was odd in that his story was both simultaneously obvious and a mystery. One could easily see that FN-221 was a clone. He had all of the trademark features of these mass-produced warriors of the Republic, but those were only the physical features. He didn't have that hyper-practiced military sharpness of the clones in the army, he seemed somehow hollowed out, like all of his programming as a clone had smothered the human part of him and that internal battle had left him more internally battle-scarred than most of the other clones. His eyes were always moving, as though he was always looking for the next threat and even though he constantly looked down at the ground, it was obvious that he was reading each of us, assessing us, determining what kind of threat we posed. 

And at the centre of this group of conflicted people was O-Li, an uncertainty. Maybe it was because I constantly felt like I had to struggle to appear confident, but there was something too polished about O-Li, like she had polished herself so much because she feared that there was something rusted underneath. She was the model for the idea of a Mandalorian in the office. She seemed to build armour around herself far more impenetrable that Mandalorian battle garbs.

I wasn't sure if I was so fascinated by her because of the mystery she represented, because she was so... perfect, or if I was fascinated with her because I was attracted to her. Did I want to figure her out or sleep with her?

I could tell that others felt her strange magnetism as well. FN-221 bowed his head slightly when she was around, like a dog acknowledging his alpha. AB-428 became much more animated, sure of herself around O-Li. And Horizon, well, he actually let the fun-loving guy about town act drop occasionally with her. She was able to chase away his demons with the confidence she had in him and the pressure for him to put everything he had into succeeding. And me - well, I think I was the only one who was still unsure whether she was an inspiration or whether I was in love with her. FN-221 may act like her guard dog, but I was worried that I acted like her puppy, all wide-eyed and waiting to lick her boot.

I needed to show her that I was really serious about all of this. That I was part of a team, not a love-sick kid looking for a hero. I turned and walked toward the plasteel door of her office. It was the only opaque door in the very visible, window-filled office. This seemed to be the one concession to privacy in the office, the one space that didn't project an image of perfect transparency that O-Li Viapope and Associates radiated to our clients. 

I don't know why I didn't knock. I guess I had started to think that everything in our office was public and transparent. I glimpsed her kneeling in the same position as she had assumed wth the Chancellor. She was dwarfed by the massive hologram projected in front of her of a hooded man. 

I only caught the end of the conversation as he spoke "Everything is proceeding according to my plan."

"Yes, my Master."

Even though the holographic figure was cloaked, some subtle change in his posture suggested that he was aware of me standing at the slight opening of the door.

"It appears that you have a problem to resolve, my young apprentice. You had best resolve it soon." He cut the feed to the hologram.

Despite the threat implied in the man's words, his voice remained calm, almost detached. It took me a moment to realize what he had suggested. 

O-Li had seemed to suddenly appear in front of me at that moment. She already had a weapon in her hand. The force pike seemed far to large for her to conceal, but it had seemed to come out of nowhere before it was at my throat. 

"You - the Jedi... they were right. There are Sith in the government and you are one. That man... he has you manipulating the Chancellor. All of this... you're behind it."

She gave me a look that undid all of the work she had put into building up my confidence. She looked at me like I had just revealed to her that I was a rock on an outer rim planet that was not only non-sentient, but also containing no mineral that could be used for anything other than sand in a child's sandbox. There was an incredulous almost-laugh lighting all of her features. One that contrasted with the seriousness of her pose.

"Oh, the Chancellor... He is the Sith, isn't he? He's the man you were just talking to. You - you bowed to both of them the same way... And oh, I really shouldn't have said anything."

"You really shouldn't have, no." 

"Damn. I was just feeling like I was getting my life together her too. I really thought I could make something of myself here, that I could make something of myself with you... from your guidance."

"I really wish you hadn't seen what you did. I worked so hard to make you what you are."

"What do you mean?"

"Where do you think Quaii Nai comes from? Tell me - when did you first start using that name? How did you get it?"

"You know, don't you?" 

"That you used to be Liind Saydwer? Yes."

"Did you - were you the one who kidnapped me, who brought me to Coruscant?"

"That- that was - me" a voice huffed behind me. I jumped slightly. The clone looked at my feet, not because he was ashamed of kidnapping me, but because he thought he could hide the fact that he was studying my every movement. 

"I - kidnapped you - from - Shili after your - husband blew up - in the explosion at the capital. I - got you away - from the - Togrutan authorities - before they could - arrest you for his - murder."

"I didn't -"

"We know" interrupted O-Li, "Buy we knew that we couldn't get you out of the charges. There were too many complications."

"So - we - brought you - here".

"There's a lot more going on in the galaxy than you know of Quaii Nai." O-Li let the force pike drop but I could still feel the electric zing at the tips of my head tails, "and it isn't something that you are going to be able to grasp all at once, but I saw something in Liind Saydwer that made me want to bring you here and I see a LOT more in Quaii Nai. You may not be ready to see it in yourself, but you can make a difference. You can change the galaxy and change it for the better."

I found myself wanting to listen to her. She made me feel USEFUL, more than useful, she made me feel important. I hadn't felt important in a long time. More than important, she made me feel desirable. And - really - what are these distinctions between Sith and Jedi anyway? The Jedi just tried to take over the government and it was the Sith who stopped them. They didn't reject emotions like the Jedi, the self-appointed guardians of relationships. Sith were about passion, about revelling in emotions and the closer O-Li was to me, the more I wanted to participate in that revel of emotions. 

I leaned forward and touched my lips to hers, knowing that the touch of lips was a promise being shared from one breath to another. Like the clone without his army and the droid uncertain about how she belonged and the man who wore a suit of self-confidence, I belonged to O-Li, and that was a lot more belonging than I had ever experienced before. I was a Mandalorian, a White Helmet, a fixer, and I was helping to fix the galaxy and bring it order.


End file.
